10 Top Tech Trends to Watch in 2018

Juniper Networks Inc. (NYSE: JNPR), which was one of the companies that Credit Suisse recently said would benefit handily from tax reform, has shared what it expects will be the top trends for the technology industry for 2018. Specifically it has a list of 10 predictions for the coming year.

Not surprisingly, tech and internet giants figure prominently on the list. Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) and Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ: FB) are expected not only to be key players in streaming sporting events next year, but also to be leaders in driving growth in the social payments space.

Juniper believes that Amazon ultimately will be the biggest over-the-top player in sports events:

Not only would it gain revenues from new Amazon Prime customers joining mainly for the football, but additionally revenues derived from retail sales by those customers via the Prime channel. This significantly reduces the number of new customers it would require to cover the costs of a rights package.

Amazon, which was also on Credit Suisse’s list of the top tax reform winners, has already made forays into the sports arena. It streams the NFL games at no charge for members of its Amazon Prime service, though the service initially had only meager success compared with broadcast television. Still, this may be only the first few plays in a long game.